Marc Sirkin's Mindnumbing Thoughts

Have you ever caught a major league fly ball with your bare hands? Me neither. The chances were slim I’d even be in such a position, but there I was, looking up at the bright Carolina sky, hands outstretched into the air, waiting for my moment of glory. I’ve been to a lot of baseball games, major and minor leagues, college, high school, and even little league games. Never even sniffed a home run or foul ball. One time, during the 1995 World Series in Cleveland, Ryan Klesko hit a bomb to right field which landed at my feet. I still have that ball. It has an ‘X’ on it. That doesn’t count though. No skill involved in reaching down and picking a ball up off the ground is there? Catching a ball, sans glove is the work of a real man. I was a very minor baller once (scouting report: quick hands, OK arm, no wheels). I played baseball from the time I could remember. I was 7, or 8 and used to throw a tennis ball against my grandmothers' house, acting out entire games, sometimes pitch...

I wrote a short piece on my LinkedIn page about transitioning to a startup called " Run !" Cross posting it here for archiving sake... I'm a huge fan of Zombie shows like The Walking Dead and it's new spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead. Running is a big part of being in a zombie apocalypse.  It turns out, running is also a bit part of working for a startup. After many years and several industries (non-profit, tech, consulting), I find myself back in what I call "startup land' - that magical place where chaos reigns and everyday brings a new set of challenges, each of which feels more important than the next. As it turns out, I thrive on that sort of chaos. Even when I was at PwC working as a consultant, the most interesting projects were the ones where there was total chaos. I'd look around and see everyone scrambling for cover and I'd just revel in the madness.  Now that I'm back in the thick of things working for a very small technology c...

This blog post is loosely transcribed from a talk I gave as part of a Future of Non-profits meet up hosted by my buddy  David Neff . I was asked to do no more than 5 minutes and came up with the following. I'm also posting my hand scribbled notes I used to plan the talk, may as well show you my doctor like scribble. The notes were written on my iPad mini using Penultimate in case you were wondering. And now... the talk... Hi everyone and good morning (In my head there is awesome music playing!). My name is Marc Sirkin and I'm currently a Director with PwC, focused on helping organizations transform their digital marketing and social media. I spent 10 years in the non-profit sector, with large health charities such as March of Dimes, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Autism Speaks. Most recently, I've been volunteering and doing pro-bono work for much smaller organizations focused on mentoring and youth. Before I jump in, let me warn you, I'm extremely enam...

I don’t know about you, but somewhere along the line, my creative spark, the twinkle in my eye and the ability to see a great idea through a mess of bad ones got lost a blizzard of Kim Kardashian, snow-storm breaking news and too much time on the road. I felt like a creative zombie. A few weeks ago, I spotted a copy of  The Artist’s Way , by Julia Cameron on my bookshelf from years ago. It’s a 12-week “course” designed to help you rediscover your creativity. What the hell I figured. So I get started that day, some 4 weeks ago. Last week, Cameron drops a big bomb and says that it’s time to cold turkey on reading. Updated and translated from when it was first published, this now means no books, magazines, news, TV or social media . After a few minute freakout, I resolved to give it ago. After all isn’t giving up social media a thing these days? I had read about a few people doing this sort of experiment and had some good laughs at the...

Yes, after all these years, we're still talking, debating and waxing poetic about the power of community. That's because when you do it right, it works. I had the unique opportunity this week to develop a short talk focused on leveraging the power of community and ended up scripting a brand new talk that I wanted to share. I haven't blogged in ages, so I figured this would be a good way to try to make a comeback. I recorded myself doing the talk to practice, then had to deliver it 3x back to back to back for small "rotating" audiences of about 15 -20 people each. I can't share the client name, nor can I share any images (we had a scribe!) but I can share the core ideas and content. I'm going to blog this as if it was actually my talk minus my "Hi I'm Marc intro and background" and minus the wrap up part where I got super client specific. What remains is the guts of how companies can leverage the power of community. The topic of today...

Just finished reading " The New Digital Age " which had me thinking of picking up my original copy of " Being Digital " to compare and contrast. Maybe later. It's a good book, thoughtful and smart but at times a bit out there. I wanted to capture here some stats they throw in to set the stage for their assumptions, all stuff we know but it's more good data you can use and quote. The book focuses on BIG issues around digital - statehood, terrorism, politics, society etc... worth a read but it is dense. I admit, I flipped past some of the sections on statehood and politics. Number of people connected to the Internet worldwide increased from 350 million to more than 2 billion In the same period, the number of mobile-phone subscribers rose from 750 million to well over 5 billion (it is now over 6 billion) By 2025, the majority of the world's population will, in one generation, have gone from virtually no access to unfiltered information to accessing...

Previously posted on Medium , reposted here. I blog so infrequently, I figure I need to repurpose as much content as I can! (Photo by Marc Sirkin, Utah Mountains 2013) Even before mobile/smartphones I was bad; sneaking away to check email, reading business books or memos while on the beach, working on proposals or ideas at the pool. All behaviors of someone who would rather lose himself in work, instead of being present with family, focusing on clearing the mind and having a good time. Over the past few years I’ve improved my efforts to disconnect. I did however notice that it would take 2 or 3 days to fully disconnect. Similar to an addict, I’d have dreams about work, fanatically check in and have to almost physically restrain myself from replying to emails. It was bad, very bad. I’d come back from work up to date, but feeling like I hadn’t even had time off. As my kids grew older, it became more and more important to disconnect from work and get focused on my family and fri...

If you've been reading my blog (sorry it's been dormant for so long) it's time yet again for me to leap to the next thing. For the last 3.5 years I've immersed myself in the autism world learning more than I ever thought possible. Up until last week, I had been leading teams at Autism Speaks in social media, fundraising, marketing, IT, direct mail and CRM. I've been a busy bee. First and foremost, I learned that autism is really, really complicated. Pick any one thing about it (take causes for example) and you'll find significantly different viewpoints from a variety of corners of the community. I deeply connected with all parts of the community; parents, children, adults, researchers, caregivers, teachers and more. Beyond any of the other causes I've been involved in, autism got under my skin in some incredible ways. I feel deeply for those on the spectrum and for their loved ones who are must struggle to understand and cope with whatever comes from...

Fair warning: I'm one of the many judges of this year's program! The Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards Program (a.k.a. The Taggies ) just opened its fourth awards cycle with the addition of an Advocacy Campaign Tagline category. Nonprofits and libraries everywhere are invited to enter their organizational tagline in the program, plus any tagline they’ve created to advance programs, fundraising campaigns, advocacy campaigns and/or special events. The 2,700 taglines entered in the 2010 Awards were a bounty of skillful messages and this year’s entries are expected to be equally powerful. “A relevant tagline does double-duty—working to extend an organization’s name and mission, while delivering a memorable and motivating message to the people whose help it needs,” says awards program organizer Nancy E. Schwartz. “But our recent Nonprofit Messages Survey showed just 29% of organizations have a tagline that connects and spurs action. “The biennial Awards program is...

Watch this. It is good. Really good.

I read the recent Wired Magazine article on A/B testing websites and like many of you, I wondered to myself if it was actually possible to embrace this sort of design philosophy. After talking with my team , we've redoubled our efforts to design core Key Performance Indicators ("KPIs") in an attempt to actually start using A/B testing as a regular process for updating our site navigation, design choices and whatever else we want to change. It's a disorienting thing, removing subjectivity from the design process. My background as a designer makes me one of those people who can look at a screen and make grand proclamations about where things should be and what they should say. It's something I'm determined to stop doing. I will be honest, it is hard to stop. Either way, we've devised a series of "top level" KPIs designed to measure overall site effectiveness - and we've limited it to 5 measurements. Yes, of course we'll design second...

My older daughter is playing on a high school sports team and frankly, I'm surprised at how little focus there has been on the "team"  as opposed to what seems to be a singular focus on individuals. I know some of it is normal; lots of in-fighting, jealousy and misunderstandings between kids who are all eager to do well. However, the overall feeling I get so far from observing things is that the school and coaches have simply forgotten that they should be teaching "team first" concepts. Most of these kids will end their sports careers in the next 2/3 years, especially the girls. I've been talking to more and more parents and am hearing that girls in particular drop off teams and for spring sports, rarely play out their senior season. I'm unsure if  this is a generalization or a trend but it seems to be more true than false. The chances of playing college level team sports is slim - which is of course why some players continually focus on their indi...

I used to be an expert. I knew HTML. I was a Photoshop Master of the Universe. I learned how to configure an ISDN router (and it worked). I had time to think about SEO, about how the web worked, about file optimization and video CODECs. Remember when the best web designers and coders built pages that were less than 25k... less than 10k... I remember. Stuff has gotten really complicated lately. And even worse, I feel the Glaze . (the "Glaze" as Mark Bowden refers to it in his incredible book "Worm," is THAT LOOK you get when trying to explain something technical to someone non-technical). The Glaze I get is that non-committal, yea dude, keep talking sort of look when I get really excited about some new technology, idea or concept. The problem is that we're in the land of "we don't actually know what will work and what will not work" when it comes to Internet marketing "stuff" and non-profit fundraising. Yes, we're still here som...

I have been working a lot on a passion project called "Hacking Autism" which has led me down some really interesting roads and led to some very cool conversations. I visited University of Michigan and saw demos of Microsoft Kinect games built for kids with autism. I've talked with game designers about gaming as therapy for autism. I've contemplated social games, social networking, touch technologies and more; all in relation to those on the spectrum. This is an extremely exciting time for autism and technology. The explosion of iOS and mobile apps is literally the tip of the iceberg. Check out www.hackingautism.org for more and get ready to "hack autism." I'm trying to pull off a hackathon in June with the Random Hacks of Kindness folks, and am excited to see what sort of traction we'll get. Are you a hacker? A game designer? A project manager? A parent or a child with autism, or perhaps someone on the spectrum yourself? Get involved at the RHoK s...

As a father of 2 girls, it strikes me that it is both the best of times and just the beginning for women in our world. I both revel in the opportunities they have that their ancestors did not while fearing for them at the same time. Since I don't have boys, I don't know if I'd feel differently with sons. Last weekend, we spent last a few days in Concord, MA, mostly touring old battlefields, bridges and homes. What surprised me however, was learning more about the real story behind "Little Women" and Louisa May Alcott. Most interestingly for me was learning about her pops, Bronson Alcott . According to the stories, Bronson was quite a character. My favorite story was that he'd hang out near Orchard House (photos below) in the road with a bag of apples. As people would pass by, he's bend their ear to talk politics, education or whatever else was on his mind. Bronson was a dreamer and a philosopher, and he clearly impacted his daughters in significa...

The quantity and quality of online video and video sites continues to skyrocket. This video is hysterical, and perhaps makes some good points to boot. Yes, of course I'm on Google+ , you can find me here and chat me up, hangout with me or put me in various circles. Beware, collegehumor.com is extremely addicting - be sure to also check out the Photoshop Rap as well the amazing  Game of Thrones videos. Enjoy.

Met some GREAT people last week at a conference and found myself in a very funny, non-linear conversation over beers. Topics included social media, marketing, work, culture, getting mugged and perhaps most importantly, what would happen if the power went out, and stayed out. For good. Here's where "white collar doom" comes from: we lost power for more than a few days after Hurricane Irene in late 2011. During that time it did occur to me on more than one occasion that if the power had not come back on - I'd be pretty well doomed. In fact, if you are reading this blog, it's quite possible that you are just like me... essentially incapable of survival without power, credit cards and the internets. Here's how I think about it; I'm an information worker who spends his days in front of a computer, tapping little plastic buttons. I've not done physical labor of any sort since high school (worked in a variety of places including a furniture store). I...

I work for an organization that in many ways, is all about helping those with autism find their voice both literally and figuratively. It is a subtle and huge task for all those with autism and is near impossible to quickly capture the essence of the challenge. For those not on the spectrum, finding your voice is also a challenge and in some ways is why I have feel some connection to the autism world beyond my job. As a person, I am still looking and discovering my own voice. Understanding who I am, what I am capable of and searching for my own truth. The journey never ends. Now, as a parent, I also need to let my kids find their voices as well. My wife told me that my daughter "needs to find her own voice" the other day and it stopped me cold. Each of us, even our kids are on our own journey to discover our voices, to find out who we are and to find some measure of satisfaction in this life. Some, like those with disabilities and disorders have the deck stacked against...

I wrote a blog piece for Autism Speaks today on  Collaboration, technology and making things . Had an amazing time at Maker Faire to boot.

Just got this from Blackbaud... looks like online giving is up again. We are hanging on through this economy...